it's all about the story, possums…

Hollywood

For those who think of Australia culturally as the USA’s 51st state, researchers conclude: The belief that Australia is a proportional, perfectly formed microcosm of American cultural preferences is shown to be largely unsubstantiated. – Don Groves, IF Magazine. More:

Both politics and entertainment are, in different ways, acts of storytelling. Too often, today’s sequels and spinoffs come across like feature-length teasers. They’re all middle. They exist to hype what’s next rather than dwell in the cinematic moment and provide narrative closure. We need new stories, new policies and new ideas, but right now, neither Hollywood nor Washington appears willing to deliver. – Peter Suderman, NY Times. More:

We are raised on a Hollywood diet that argues that the grim, determined, anti-authority male hero or anti-hero who neglects his family and/or is terrible to the few women in his life is a strong/complex male character. Hollywood prioritizes male-centric hero’s-journey action fantasies, war movies, mob dramas and angsty-white-guy morality tales as a matter of course. – Scott Mendelson, Forbes. More:

Chris Pine may not be the first and only white man to aid in the continual evolution of onscreen masculine identity, but in 2017, he appears to have gotten further than most. — Sheryl Oh, FSR. Read more:

Hollywood double-standards are a tougher opponent than KGB thugs or acid-blooded aliens. Theron, Johansson, Gadot … could do with female screenwriters to fully free them from the tendency to make their characters secondary. But in 2017, the fight is moving on. — Nick Hasted, Independent. Read more:

If Wonder Woman does well on opening weekend, it sets a precedent for female-centered action films and female directors and we’ll see more of these stories on screens soon. Hollywood is a business that responds to box office. – Kirsten Schaffer, Women in Film. Read More:

Tolkien’s book The Hobbit was released in 1937, a couple of months before Snow White hit theaters. Both works highlighted a gaggle of dwarves as major supporting characters, but they could hardly have been more different. – Eric Grundhauser, Atlas Obscura. Read More: